How automated spending management gives tech leaders a competitive advantage

The technology industry is, without a doubt, fast-paced and uber-competitive. Trying to keep up with constant changes, while striving to come up with the next best thing, is hard enough. Having a solid grasp on your cash flow and expenses makes running your business that much harder. Fortunately, with recent technology advances come some pretty fantastic business solutions. Incorporating an automated and mobile expense management system not only eases your financial insecurities, it offers the visibility you need to make strategic business decisions, opening up opportunities to get ahead of the competition.

Grasping control of company spend

Rest assured you are not alone in your concerns surrounding visibility into your cash flow. A recent Aberdeen report, Technology Industry T&E and Spend Management Challenges: How Leaders Respond, surveyed both technology industry leaders and followers to learn more about the challenges and concerns these organizations face as it pertains to their overall cash flow visibility.

Of those surveyed, 47% of business leaders shared that their main concern is poor visibility into T&E spending, compliance and suppliers; whereas 53% of industry followers were more concerned about eliminating manual and paper-based processes. Other concerns can be seen illustrated in Figure 1 below:

Bottom line: Technology companies in all stages of their life cycles are concerned about their business spending and having some kind of control and visibility into the dollars coming and going.

Gaining visibility and insight into spending

Business travel can be a huge expense for the tech industry. With employees traveling around the globe, T&E expenses can be a major factor in cash flow volatility and a key area that needs more control and visibility. Moving to an automated T&E process should be a top priority to maintain market competitiveness. Gaining control over these expenses ensures the right budget is going to the right areas of your business, allowing you to continue to innovate.

The advantage of being a technology company is the ability to adapt quickly. Employees are already tech-savvy, so moving from any type of manual to automated system is a no-brainer. But beyond automated processes, tech employees expect the ability to work from anywhere, so mobility is also important to keep top of mind.

While tech leaders do focus on the ability to capture receipts via mobile phone, which improves overall employee experience, they do still lack on a mobile T&E system, as seen in this chart below:

Moving beyond automation to mobility

The solution that combines automation and mobility is out there, and can be found in Concur Travel and Expense. This truly automated and mobile system allows employees to simply take a picture of their receipt and the system takes it from there. Expenses and reporting can be accessed in real time, in the office or remotely.

It’s a win-win for businesses of all sizes. Automation saves time, money and reduces error. Couple that with mobility and complete visibility and your spend management is already steps ahead your competition.

The Aberdeen findings reaffirm this sentiment:

“For tech companies to stay on the cutting edge and hit their growth targets while building a productive environment for employees to hit those targets: Follow the path of top performers by adopting capabilities that will enable your tech company to become a leader in total spend and T&E management.”

Where do you stand?

While many industry leaders may already have automated T&E systems, the question begs to be asked: Is it the correct system? Now is the time to take advantage of a business solution that works with your current processes, giving you insights into cash flow, and opening up opportunities to innovate and pull ahead of the competition. Are you the leader or the follower? 

Read the full Aberdeen report Technology Industry T&E and Spend Management Challenges: How Leaders Respond, along with the Smartbite and Checklist to see where you stand.